Ned Lamont, Dannel Malloy Hold Civil Debate On Budget, Education

August 03, 2010|By Christopher Keating, The Hartford Courant

ROCKY HILL - — In a long-awaited debate amid an increasingly nasty campaign, Democrats Ned Lamont and Dannel Malloy held a largely civil discussion Tuesday afternoon that was essentially a one-hour timeout from the accusations they have been hurling at each other.

The candidates largely focused on issues ranging from the state budget and highway tolls to education and casino gambling in response to questions that were posed by two moderators at the studio of WFSB-TV, Channel 3.

In the only question focusing on the barrage of television commercials that have been filling the airwaves, moderator Dennis House asked Malloy if his commercial suggests that Lamont "may be a racist.'' He also asked Lamont about if his commercial suggests that Malloy is "corrupt.''

"No, I do not think that Ned is unfit to be governor, nor have I ever accused him of being a racist,'' Malloy replied. "Ned has, in fact, told the people of the state of Connecticut that they should hire him based on his business acumen - the way he has run his business, his CEO style. In fact, he's gone around the state saying he wants to be the state's CEO. ... I think it's fair to point out that in the service of his company, he downsized the workforce by 70 percent and that, a number of years ago, there was a bias lawsuit filed against him in the amount of $1 million. ... I think it's a legitimate issue for people to be aware of, just as things that Ned is saying may be legitimate about me.''

Lamont, too, said he did not believe that Malloy was unfit to be governor.

"No, not at all,'' Lamont said in his first response before moving on to the accusations about his cable company. "I'd like to set the record straight. Twenty five years ago, I started up a business, borrowed some money from a local bank, hung out my shingle, and over the last 25 years, we have taken on the cable industry, beat them at their own game, building systems around the country. I've been working with the folks at my company for years. It's good work, good pay. I'm proud to be with these people, and they've been with us for a long time because it's a good place to work. And that's what I want to do for the state of Connecticut.''

Malloy said he is proud of being Stamford's mayor and "bringing over 5,000 new jobs to the city.'' That statement, however, has prompted a dispute in the campaign because state labor statistics show that Stamford has lost more than 13,000 jobs since reaching the peak employment level in 2000. High-rise towers have been built in the city's downtown core, but the city's commercial vacancy rate has been rising since the city lost more than 5,000 jobs between June 2008 and June 2009.

"His dispute is not with me. His dispute is with the bureau of labor statistics,'' Lamont said after the debate.

In comments after the debate, Lamont showed more fire than he did when the cameras were on. He was asked after the debate about accusations that he has raised about city contractors who performed work on Malloy's house in the Shippan section of Stamford while he was mayor. Since the investigation of Malloy had become public, the chief state's attorney's office took the unusual step of releasing a letter at the end of the inquiry that said that there was "no credible evidence of criminal wrongdoing'' in the case by Malloy.

"The point is, if I was governor of the state of Connecticut, would I have a state contractor working on my home? No,'' Lamont told reporters. "Would I be collecting money from people doing business with my state? No. It's not a question of legality with me. It's a question of right and wrong.''

Lamont conceded that Malloy's negative commercials have made the race closer since they started on July 23.

"He went up with a non-stop negative for five days, and it has an impact. I know,'' Lamont said.

Regarding charges by Malloy about layoffs in his cable company, Lamont told a Hartford political reporter, "Put this down. There were no layoffs. That is fundamentally not true, and you know it, and he knows it because he read your article.''

Despite the civility of the one-hour debate, there was no indication Tuesday that the negative commercials would cease before next week's primary.

Lamont had said that, after the Windham regional chamber of commerce debate last week at the University of Connecticut, that if Malloy took down his negative commercials, then Lamont would stop his, too. But that has not occurred.

Some of Lamont's supporters admit that Malloy clearly gained some traction when he started a negative TV ad campaign on Friday, July 23, and Lamont was relatively slow to respond on television. Now, however, both candidates have negative commercials running simultaneously on the air.

Malloy said Monday night in Hartford that he has stopped polling, but some of Lamont's supporters question why he would stop polling when he still has TV ads running.